Letters : Depleted by deer

I share the enthusiasm for trees expressed in Oliver Tickell's article (This Week, 6 July, p 5) but have two reservations: deer and fire.

Throughout mainland Britain we are experiencing an unprecedented explosion in the deer population which already adversely affects natural tree regeneration and will, without serious and concerted deer-proofing, preclude future natural forest development.

In the woodlands of the English Midlands and East Anglia already colonised by muntjac, all ground flora, including tree regeneration, is being seriously depleted. In Scotland, wherever red deer are present in woodland, regeneration simply does not occur. Equally, the steady recolonisation by roe deer of most of Britain will, I predict, also prevent regeneration, as is already evident in woodland across most of Southern England.

The risk of fire must also be considered seriously in those areas where a build-up of dead wood is encouraged. This management strategy provides the ...

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